Petes fall short in close matchup against the Generals
Tucker Robertson, Sam Alfano and Nick Lardis each picked up a goal in tonight’s tight battle against the Oshawa Generals.
The Generals had a dominant first period taking 14 shots against starting goaltender Michael Simpson. The hometown team opened the score this Sunday evening when Ottawa Valley native, Stuart Rolofs found the back of the Petes net at 4:25. Oshawa held the lead for seven seconds as Petes centreman Tucker Robertson tucked a pass from Emmett Sproule at the left side of the Zachary Paputsakis’ post into the back of the Gens’ net.
Luke Torrance would break the one goal tie at 10:32 following a pass from Thomas Stewart.
Former Pete, Cam Butler would go on to extend the Generals lead at 16:38, with the assist being attributed their captain Ty Tullio.
The first period would give the Generals a dangerous two goal lead.
The mighty maroon and white would start the second period with an extra man on the ice, when Cooper Way was sent to the sin bin at 3:20 for boarding. Although ranking 5th overall in the league for power play, the Petes were unable to take advantage of the extra player over the two minutes.
Despite the Generals producing some quality scoring chances in the Petes end during the early part of the middle frame, none of them were a challenge for Simpson’s butterfly.
The second half of the second period seemed to produce a spark of momentum for the Liftlock Lads. At 8:57 a wrap around by right wing Sam Alfano, in conjunction with a chaotic group of players from both squads just in front of Paputsakis’ crease resulted in the Petes second goal of the evening, courtesy of the Cayuga native.
???? ALFANO ????
Chaos in front of the net + a wrap around = a goal for your mighty maroon and white! #GoPetesGo pic.twitter.com/UjSVVlOCDK
— Peterborough Petes (@PetesOHLhockey) January 31, 2022
The Petes nearly tied it up with a third goal just before the second intermission -courtesy of Jax Dubois – but it was called off by the referees because of goaltender interference.
Much like the second, the Petes would enter the final period with the power play following a roughing penalty from Lleyton Moore. Shortly after it returned to 5 on 5 hockey Nick Lardis picked up the accidentally blocked puck from Sam Alfano, following a point shot by Konnor Smith and found the back of the Gens’ net, to tie up the game.
Right place, right time. Lardis snags an accidentally blocked puck from Alfano and tucks it past Paputsakis. #GoPetesGo pic.twitter.com/TdJpe3Dfa1
— Peterborough Petes (@PetesOHLhockey) January 31, 2022
The Petes would only see an even score for 19 seconds as Brett Harrison tallied his seventeenth of the season at 2:36.
In typical Petes-Generals fashion the physicality of the game began to ramp up halfway through the third when Donovan McCoy and Matthew Hill were each sent to the penalty box at 10:14.
Although the Petes set up with the extra attacker pulling Simpson out of his net on two separate occasions with two minutes left in the game, the additional effort was unable to translate on the scoreboard for the Petes.
The Petes will take on the Ottawa 67’s at home on Thursday, February 3 at 7:05pm.
